Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-03-11


them for the news. Mrs. Eads had written
Of her husbands serious illness, and stat d
that if 1t proved fatal his body would b.
buried at St Louis, where he had made his
home for many years.
Capt James B. Eiis was born in Law
renceburs, Ind, IN le2u In 1883 his father
started down the Ohio river with his family,
proposing TO settle in Wisconsin The boat
caught fire and his scanty furniture and
clothing were burned. Young Eads hardly
escaped ashore with his pantaloons, shirt and
cap. Taking passage on another boat, this
boy of Il landed in ST. Louis with his par
eats, his little tare feet first touching the
rocky shore Of the city on the very spot
where be after ward located and built the
largest steel bridge in the world, over the
Mississippi one Of the most difficult feats of
engineering ever performed in America
The boy took naturally to mathematics
and spent all his spare time studying that
science. He worked at several businesses be-
fore he began his civil engineering career,
however. In 1872 he constructed a diving.
bell boat 10 recover cargoes of sunken steam
ers. In 1915 he erected at St. Louis the first
glass works west of the Ohio river On the
Invitation. in 1861, of President Lincoln, Mr..
Eads designed and constructed a powerful
squadron of eight steamers designed
for use on the Mississippi, having a
speed of nine knots an hour, and aggre-
eating sore tons. There were ready, fully
equipped and plated, within 100 DAYS from
the time he received notice TO do the work.
They were the first ironclad vessels con.
srructed BY the government In 1S6!-3 he
designed and constructed six turreted IRON
vessels. all heavily plated In Isf7-74 he de-
signed and constructed the great steel-arched
bridge over the Mississippi rl-er at St Louis
This work Is rnuOWnni he
cheering feats of the century. and its con-
structiou was regarded at the time by scien-
tific men as the solution of q great problem
in the engineering world.
An apparently inSurmountable difficulty
in the navigation of the mouth of the NJ s.
sissippi river has been the enormous GUAM
titles Of mud and sand deposited at its mouth.
An idea Of the extent of this deposit may BE-
gained from the fact that the river empties
into the gulf of Mexico g. ON, 900 cubic feet
of water per minute each cubic foot con
taing nearly two cubic inches of mud and
sand. This earthly matter has. in the course
Of ages, formed delta which extends lN
miles from the main shore line of the
gulf To remove the bars already form d
and to secure a perfectly navigate
channel at I'LL times was a uues-
ton that puzzled engineers. until. tho
winter Of 1874, Capt Elds appeared before
congress and offered to perform The above
task without remuneration until the under
taxing was an accomplished fact; After
considera bic opposition on the part of rival
engineers, who held his plan to be chimerical
permission was granted him in March, 1873.
and in June he commenced the construction
OF 'jetties" AMI imp owed the channel Sc
that the largest vessels MAJ enter the Ms
sis71ppj river.
His Tehauntepec or Nicaragua ship-raiI way
scneme has been 50 continually before tha
public for the last few wears that simple ref
ererce TO it IL sufficient He died after see
ing congress indorse his scheme, which it did
last February.